The Lightning Strike
by xellie23x
Summary: Everyone tried to stop the forbidden romance but Lucas and Peyton just couldn't stay away from each other Their families just never expected that their actions would have such life-changing consequences. Leyton story.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

**A/N: If you read my other story The Search For Something More then you might remember that I said that I wouldn't upload another story until I finished that one because I wanted to make sure it was complete but I figured that seeing as there's only one chapter left I would definitely be able to finish it so here I am.**

**This is the second story I've uploaded which means I'm still pretty new at this. It's also very different from what I usually write; it's a lot less fluffy and happy so I really don't know what I'm doing.**

**The story is basically about Lucas and Peyton's relationship from the ages of fourteen to seventeen but their parents and friends have a problem with them being together which causes problems for their relationship.**

**I hope the actual story is better than that summary I just gave.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own One Tree Hill, it would be nice though...**

* * *

_What if this storm ends?_

_And I don't see you_

_As you are now_

_Ever again_

* * *

"Just get the hell out, Lucas," she screamed at him, he left reluctantly but he was aware that if he didn't he would only cause more damage and he couldn't risk that, not anymore.

The tears were still running down her face as she collapsed on her bed from the exhaustion of an argument with the boy she was in love with and the fact that she was about to have the conversation with her dad that she never wanted to have... not yet, not at seventeen.

The boy she was in love with.

It sounded so perfect didn't it? But their lives were far from it, they'd been together for three years but at the same time they'd never been together, not with their parents and their friends ripping them apart.

Over the years she'd wished that he would just take her away, to that place she could only dream of where they could just be together without her father's overbearing presence and all the other problems that they were faced with.

Half of the time they were held apart but they found a way and it was worth it if it meant that they could be together, because at the end of the day they were destined to be together, no matter what their parents told them.

It's just a shame they kept breaking each other's hearts.

* * *

He walked with no destination, just walked to clear his mind. It was all too much, but at the same time not enough. He loved her so much but it never seemed enough. Enough to tell the world, enough to be free from the whispers of people, enough for the rest of the world to believe in them.

According to everyone else their relationship should never have even started, her dad and his mum had warned them that this would happen, that their innocent relationship wasn't so innocent and their new found romance would just end in heartbreak.

They were half right; there would certainly be a lot of heartbreak but this wasn't an end. This was an entirely new beginning.

* * *

She heard the front door close indicating that either Lucas came back to talk or her dad had come home, she hoped it was the first option but knew that she could never be that lucky.

As she opened the kitchen door she saw him there, just sat at the table reading the newspaper. When she was a little girl she hadn't even once thought that her life would be like this at seventeen, hell even a few years ago this wouldn't have seemed possible.

"Daddy, we need to talk about something," she informed him quietly, her hands restless and moving fast.

"Daddy? This can't be good." He attempted a joke but then he saw the seriousness of her expression. "What is it honey?" She took a deep breath there was no going back now,

"I'm pregnant."

* * *

**3 years earlier**

"Dad?" She questioned as she went into the house.

She'd just seen a moving van at the abandoned house just down the street and was curious as to who would buy it, ever since she was eight or nine years old she'd known that house to be empty, simply because the people who had lived there before had left town in a hurry and hadn't had a chance to sell their home. That was the story she'd always been told anyway and she had no reason to believe that there was more to it than that.

She remembered vaguely who had lived there before they had left; it was a boy the same age as her and his mum, she couldn't remember his dad. The mum was kind to her; she owned a café and was an excellent cook so she'd sometimes give Peyton treats she had left over. Then one day they just weren't there anymore although she couldn't remember them actually leaving, she guessed it was because her mum died around the same time.

"Dad?" She yelled again knowing that he was home for once.

"Peyton, you don't have to shout through the house when you know I'll be in the kitchen." He reminded her for the hundredth time.

She rolled her eyes at his familiar warnings and continued with her queries. "Is someone moving into the house down the road?"

"Actually Karen Roe and her son are moving back, he was about your age, right?"

"Yeah, I think so anyway, it was so long ago I can barely remember them."

"Just stay away from them, Peyton," he warned and she saw immediately that he was serious about it which made her curious.

"Why? We don't even know anything about them."

"Would you just do as you're told for once?"

"Whatever, I'm going out."

"No you're not."

"Well I disagree..."

"You know the rules; you're not allowed to leave the house unless I know where you are going, who you are going to be meeting and what time you will be home."

"Fine. I'm going to the park where I will meet Brooke and I won't be back any later than nine."

From the look her father gave her she begrudgingly changed it to eight thirty and set towards the door but before she could exit the prison her dad had one more thing to say.

"Peyton, you know I trust you, it's just the others that I can't trust."

* * *

She was sat at the rivercourt alone and not expecting any company except for her sketch book, it wasn't the first time she'd lied to her father and it certainly wouldn't be the last but she felt even less guilty about it this time. She couldn't understand how he could leave her for weeks at a time then return home and act like an overprotective father; she supposed it was out of guilt or something.

She heard the rhythmic thudding of a basketball behind her and turned around sharply only to see a tall boy with blond hair and blue eyes staring right back at her.

After what seemed like forever but was actually only two seconds she tore her gaze from him and turned back to her sketchbook hoping that her cheeks weren't as red as they felt.

* * *

He watched the familiar looking blonde girl sat on the table at his favourite place in the world, the place he hadn't been in six years and it was all because of her, or so he'd been told. It was hard to believe that an eight year old girl would be the reason they left their home but he believed what he'd been told or at least he used to, he wasn't sure what to think anymore. Her beauty captured him like no one else, she seemed like an angel; innocent, slightly tortured and beautiful in every sense of the word.

How could this angel be the reason that their lives had been hell the past six years? She couldn't be the reason, she just couldn't.

When he realised that he'd probably been staring at her for too long he decided to play some basketball, the whole reason he came to the rivercourt in the first place. As the ball went through the net time and time again he resisted glancing over at the girl who had taken his breath away from the moment his blue eyes had connected with her emerald green ones.

She tried to continue sketching but as soon as she heard the basketball go through the net she felt inclined to watch the familiar looking boy, the way he moved fascinated her with his body twisting and turning in all directions - it was mesmerising.

Then he missed and the ball rolled at an impossibly slow pace to the table where she sat and as he came to collect his ball their eyes connected once more before he smirked at her, picked up his ball and walked away.

* * *

When he got home he found his mother unpacking a box in the kitchen before she looked at him with her tired eyes.

"How was the river court? Did you see any of your old friends there?" She asked, attempting to engage him in a rare conversation. He had spent the past six years brooding about what could have been if they would have stayed in Tree Hill, she didn't see the point herself, they had no choice but to move.

"No, I didn't see anyone but I had fun, it was nice to get back there after all this time," he said partially with bitterness. He understood his mother's reasons for their drastic change of lifestyle but he'd missed this place and the people in it.

"I'm sure you'll see them soon," she promised him guiltily.

"Whatever, mum, I'm going to bed."

"I'm sorry, Lucas, I just did what I thought was best."

"I know."

* * *

All night Peyton couldn't keep the blonde boy out of her head, he seemed so familiar yet at the same time completely different from anyone else that she knew. He'd captivated her at the rivercourt and she felt concerned that a guy could get her feeling like this without even speaking a word to her. Her lack of experience with these feelings left her confused about their unspoken connection, she didn't even know if he'd taken any notice of her but she couldn't help but feel like he had. She just wanted to know him, at least know his name.

The next day at school she got her wish.

"Hi I'm Lucas Scott, I'm new here."

Peyton lifted her head from her desk to see the boy from the rivercourt talking to her teacher; it was like some sort of twisted fate that he was in her class.

"Lucas Scott? Sit in the desk in the corner next to Peyton please."

Peyton cringed when she heard her name mentioned, of course it was obvious that she would end up sat next to him since the seat next to her was the only spare one in the class. She supposed that she should be happy that the boy she'd been thinking about constantly since he left the night before was so close to her but at the same time she knew that having someone with so much power over her was dangerous.

As he walked over to her corner she attempted to avoid his gaze, just like she had the night before but also like last time she couldn't peal her eyes from his piercing blue eyes. As he took his seat they locked eyes and he hit her with the same smirk from the night before but this time she also noticed something else in his eyes, it was almost painful as though he didn't know whether to talk to her or not. She hoped that he would.

She set herself up for disappointment however when they spent the whole lesson sitting silently next to each other, Peyton wasn't sure why he was looking at her like she'd done something wrong but she felt concerned that this boy who didn't even know her seemed to hate her with a passion she could only marvel at.

* * *

As Peyton was changing in the locker rooms for cheerleading practice she attempted to block the annoying teenage girl chatter from her mind. This was the part she hated the most about cheerleading; the other members of the squad and the worst part was that they all knew about this therefore she was excluded from most conversations. Her only real friend on the squad was her best friend Brooke Davis, she was probably the reason that Peyton joined the squad in the first place, well her and the fact that her mother had cheered when she was in high school.

Unfortunately today was the day that the other members of the squad decided to talk to her; of course it was only for their own benefit though.

"Hey, Peyton," Bevin called her from across the locker room.

Peyton glanced up, wishing that Brooke hadn't chosen today of all days to be ill.

"Yeah?"

"You sit next to that new guy, Lucas, in English right?" Bevin asked her with a fake smile firmly in place on her face.

Peyton returned a sickly sweet smile before answering her superficial question, "Yeah, I do but I don't know anything about him, he was really quiet the whole lesson."

"Really?" Rachel asked smugly, "We had biology together and he couldn't stop talking."

"You sure that wasn't you, Rachel?" she commented breezily, "I mean we all know that any guy who comes within five metres of you has to suffer from your flirting."

This caused a few of the other girls to start snickering which made Peyton feel both a sense of accomplishment and guilt, especially when she saw the embarrassed expression on Rachel's face.

"So you didn't talk to him at all?" Bevin asked Peyton who responded by shaking her head, "it's just that he's really, really hot."

Peyton then turned away from the rest of the cheerleaders and rolled her eyes but she felt something foreign in her stomach, it was almost jealousy. But she couldn't be feeling jealous about a guy she'd never even talked to, could she?

* * *

It was only his first day at Tree Hill High School and he already hated it. After sitting next to the girl from the river court he'd seen the day before in English then ignoring her the whole time, he then had to put up with some redhead constantly asking him questions in biology but the worst event of the day was when he talked to Whitey, the basketball coach. It wasn't so much the talk actually as the confrontation with his 'brother' who decided that if Lucas was going to join the basketball team then he would make his life a living hell.

He knew about Nathan, during one of the fights he'd had with his mum over the past few years it had all come out about how she met Dan and then he left her when she got pregnant then got some other girl pregnant just months after her. He knew his half-brother's name was Nathan Scott but that was it. He didn't know about his life with Dan pressuring him to be the best constantly, he didn't know that Nathan's mum was never around but he certainly knew that Nathan Scott resented him.

As Lucas walked out the door of the school he bumped straight into a mass of blonde curls.

"Hey, watch where you're..." She turned to yell at him but when she saw his face she seemed to forget the rest of her sentence.

"I'm sorry, I didn't see you," he apologised while trying to keep his voice level. Here she was, the girl that ruined his life all those years ago yet he was sure that they were connected through more than just that.

"It's okay," she whispered while brushing a curl behind her ears.

There was a moment of silence where he considered the situation, he knew that talking to her was playing with fire yet at the same time he felt that it was worth it.

"So are you waiting for anyone in particular?" He asked her looking down at his shoes, still unsure as to whether he should talk to her or not, he didn't even know if she would want him to talk to her.

She appeared to be shocked that he was talking to her but she smoothed her expression after only a small moment, "Well I was waiting for my dad but he just called me to tell me he couldn't make it, I was just about to start walking."

"Oh, well do you want some company? I'm walking too," he offered only thinking of the consequences when it was too late, why couldn't he just stay away from this one girl? He could have an acceptable relationship with anyone else in this school yet he had to be drawn to the one girl that would cause disapproving glares and whispers on the street.

* * *

"So you're a cheerleader?" he asked unnecessarily after they had been walking in silence for a few minutes.

"Yeah, but on days like today I wonder why," she admitted while looking down, she didn't want to get lost in his eyes again; they held so much power over her.

"It's funny; I'm thinking the same thing about basketball." He let out a breathy laugh while looking forward, since they'd started walking he hadn't looked at her once and it bothered her more than she'd like to admit.

"Not the best first day?" she asked him sympathetically.

"Not exactly, no." He paused and took a breath, "What about you? I thought cheerleaders were meant to be cheery?"

"Well you're looking at the exception to that rule," she laughed despite herself; "If you want cheery then you'd be looking for my friend Brooke or pretty much any other girl on the squad."

"Who said that's what I'm looking for?" he asked her which only intensified her curious gaze.

She laughed sarcastically, "It's what all guys are looking for."

"You know you shouldn't judge people like that," he said slightly irritated.

"You're one to talk," she pointed out, "You've been judging me ever since you saw me."

"No, I was trying to figure you out."

"How's that gone so far?"

"Not too well," he said with a small smirk present on his face. "You're not what I expected."

"What do you mean?" she asked, confused about why he'd expected anything of her.

"I never expected Peyton Sawyer to be a cheerleader," he clarified although she could tell he wasn't telling the whole truth.

"How did you know me?"

"We lived on the same street until I moved a few years back, and now we live on the same street again, we moved back in a day or so ago," he told her simply, but inside his mind was whirring. How could she not know who he was? Had her father not told her all of the nasty details? He assumed not since she was still talking to him.

"You're Karen Roe's son?" she asked and Lucas could swear that he saw a momentary flash of panic cross her eye. Maybe she wasn't as naive as he thought.

"Yes." He nodded, "Is that a problem?"

They stopped in front of Peyton's house and she turned to face him.

"No, I just didn't know that's all," she defended herself even though it was a lie but she didn't even know this guy so what was the point in telling the truth if it would only hurt him.

"You seem like a good guy, Lucas," she commented as she turned to go to her house but she as she did so she could see her dad watching her from the kitchen window so she quickly decided to teach him a lesson.

She turned back abruptly and hugged Lucas softly while whispering in his ear, "Just go with it."

When she moved away from him again she turned around to see that her dad had stopped watching her and she smiled in accomplishment.

"Thanks, Luke," she said before blushing when she realised that she'd shortened his name automatically.

On his face was the smirk that she'd been simultaneously loving and hating since the first time she saw it.

"Anytime, Peyt."

* * *

**I just wanted to let you know that this isn't going to be a story about Peyton's pregnancy, it's mostly about what leads up to it but I will go back to the pregnancy storyline later. Also I'm not really sure whether I'm any good at writing this type of story so if you could give me things to improve on or tell me that I'm doing okay then I'd really appreciate it. **

**The title of this story comes from the song The Lightning Strike by Snow Patrol, great song by the way. Also if you translate the lightning strike literally into French then it's le coup de foudre which also happens to be the way to say love at first sight.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

**AN: Thank you so much for the reviews, follows and favourites, I've decided to show how much I appreciate the reviews by replying to each one I get for this story however I couldn't reply to the guest reviews so I'm going to have to do that here instead.**

**Kb: Thank you for the review, the Romeo and Juliet thing made me laugh but it made me realise that you are kind of right. Lucas and Peyton won't die at the end of this story though because that would be kind of depressing.**

**Guest: Thanks for the review and reading the story, I hope that you continue to enjoy it.**

**Guest: Thank you for reviewing and I hope that the rest of the story will also make you think that I can write this kind of story because I'm pretty sure I'm terrible at it.**

**What I should have probably mentioned before is that this story is kind of weirdly set out because even though the story covers three years, there aren't very many chapters (I'm pretty sure it will be eight) which means that there will be quite a few time jumps so I can write about all of the important moments in their lives.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own One Tree Hill or the characters.**

* * *

_A perfect halo_

_Of gold hair and lightning_

_Sets you off against_

_The planet's last dance_

* * *

"So when's your dad coming back?"

She glanced up into his blue eyes that hadn't stopped torturing her since that night at the rivercourt two months ago.

"Two days," she replied shortly, it was no secret that she wasn't looking forward to her father's return; it would only signify the end of the happiness she had been living in for the past three weeks since her dad had gone to sea.

He nodded, he understood what that meant; they couldn't be here like this when he returned and Lucas couldn't help but hate the man for it, he was beginning to forget the reasons that he knew made whatever was between them so wrong.

He could only watch her as she curled her legs onto the sofa and moved slightly away from him in doing so; she then looked straight forward at the television and continued watching the movie that he had picked out, some rom-com he'd thought she'd enjoy.

He sighed as he knew that this would be one of the last times that they would get to do this for almost a month until her dad left again. These were the times he cherished; when they could just be themselves with no judgement because everywhere they went he saw the frowning faces that only made him feel sick from the guilt of knowing that he was with her when she didn't even know the reasons that should have kept them apart.

It wasn't like they were anything more than friends, although he wished they could be more, but the way that the people in the small town of Tree Hill threw their judgmental glances at them you would think that they were clandestine lovers. As a result of the disapproving looks they had retreated to Peyton's house most days, although they would occasionally go to the rivercourt until somebody else arrived, it just didn't seem right to be there when somebody else was, it was as though they were invading their personal space.

The only times that their little routine changed was when Peyton's dad returned home, Lucas knew that if he saw them like this, sitting so close that he could feel her breathing against him then he wouldn't hesitate to unleash his anger on the fourteen year old boy. His anger that Lucas could justify he supposed, how dare he come near this man's daughter after everything that his family had put her through? It just wasn't right.

For now though he would forget about all the reasons they should stay apart and focus on fact that they were together now and that he should treasure this moment along with all of the other ones that he'd shared with her since the day of his return.

* * *

Once Lucas had left, Peyton retreated to her room and to the escape of her art and finished the sketch of Lucas that she'd started the day before, she'd grown used to sketching him as he'd been all she could draw for the last two months. If she was honest she'd hoped that they'd be something more than friends by now but she knew there was something holding Lucas back, every time they got too close or she felt something could happen between them he would pull back with an intense look of guilt clouding his brilliant blue eyes.

There had to be a reason behind this painful distance and she didn't believe that it was because he wasn't attracted to her, she'd seen his secret glances and his wandering eyes. She was just confused, it was obvious that Lucas knew something that she didn't but in a way she was scared to find out why because if Lucas didn't want to tell her then it must be something that could destroy their newfound friendship.

It was a tragic twist of fate that she would fall for the one guy she couldn't have and even though her sacred moments with Lucas were the happiest she'd been in years she could constantly feel the presence of a dark cloud hanging over their heads. Now she was just waiting for the rain to fall.

* * *

Peyton was sat picking at her lunch the day that her father was due to arrive home, it was a habit that she had when she got nervous, she supposed that right now all she was worried about was whether her father's return home this time would change things between her and Lucas as much as it had done the last time. During that time she'd gone a painful two weeks of only speaking to Lucas through text messages, the problem was that with them words didn't mean nearly as much as the moments when their eyes would connect or when he'd forget himself for a minute and hold her close as though he never wanted to let her go.

"Peyton?"

Her best friend's voice broke her quickly out of her trance, she wouldn't allow herself to daydream about him anymore even though sometimes that seemed like the only way she could make it through a day at Tree Hill High School.

"Peyton, are you okay? You seem kind of out of it," Brooke asked her and she could tell that the concern behind her eyes was genuine; she often saw a similar look in her father's eyes.

"What?" She feigned innocence by widening her eyes before trying to play it off with a joke and even though she was fairly sure that Brooke would see right through it she doubted that the other cheerleaders that they were sat with cared enough to notice when something was wrong. "Sorry I guess I was just thinking too hard."

"Is it anything to do with the fact that Lucas Scott is staring at you right now," she responded in much quieter yet harsher tones.

Peyton felt the temptation to turn around and see whether Brooke was telling the truth but she knew that would only make her appear guiltier for a crime she didn't know she'd committed.

"It's got nothing to do with that, Brooke, I was just thinking about my dad, he's coming home tonight," she forced a convincing smile and this time she was sure that even Brooke was fooled by it.

"Really?" Brooke raised her eyebrows. "It's got nothing to do with Lucas?"

"Of course not," she laughed, "I've never even spoken to him outside English."

"It's just I heard somebody say that they saw you two around town the other day and I've seen him staring at you before." The way that Brooke said this immediately told Peyton that she shouldn't get involved with him or that she should get out of it if she already was.

"Sometimes people say things, Brooke," she said seriously, "it doesn't necessarily make them true."

"It doesn't make them false either."

With that Brooke walked away in a dramatic manner that only she'd ever been able to master. As Peyton turned to watch Brooke's theatrical exit she caught Lucas' eye, she should have known better as once their eyes were connected she never wanted to let go. Their moment had to end though when Haley James, a friend of Lucas' who he was sitting with, nudged him with her elbow and sent him a warning glance. He looked away immediately, knowing that they'd been caught in the act.

* * *

"Are you sure you don't want my mum to take you home, Peyt?" Brooke asked her after cheerleading practice, she didn't think that Peyton should walk home by herself when there was clearly a storm brewing outside, it could start raining at any minute and she assumed that Peyton wouldn't want to get caught up in the rain.

"No, I'm fine, my dad will be home later so I just want to enjoy my last peaceful moments," she laughed through the pain of lying to her best friend.

"Well, you enjoy the cold you're going to get from walking home in this weather then," Brooke rolled her eyes at her before getting in the car.

Peyton smiled sadly as she watched her car drive away, she knew that Brooke wouldn't approve if she told her the real reason she wanted to walk home.

A few minutes later she was beginning to regret rejecting Brooke's offer when Lucas appeared and she remembered the reason that she was still here, she wanted to spend one more afternoon as close to Lucas as she could before their little world was taken away again.

"Hey, you're still here," he sighed in relief.

"You think I'd just leave you here with no warning?" she asked him with a teasing grin that she saved for his eyes only.

"Not for a second," he returned her smile however, his was slightly shy and much softer than hers, the knowledge that it wasn't likely that he would engage in her teasing didn't comfort her when the disappointment still ran through her veins.

"Do you want to talk about what happened in there?" she asked softly and when his head turned sharply to hers he immediately saw the care shining through her eyes.

"I had a fight with Nathan," he stated simply, "it wasn't the first time and I doubt it will be the last."

She looked at him in shock as they started to walk away from the school.

"You make it sound like nothing but it is something, Lucas, this isn't right." She chastised him. "He's your brother."

"Peyton," he sighed as she glanced up at him, "I don't even know the guy so I don't really think of him as my brother, we weren't brought up together and that's the way it's supposed to be."

"Maybe you should try to get to know him?" she suggested shyly.

He took a moment before looking down at her with a pensive expression, "you can't get to know someone who doesn't want to be known."

She heard in his tone of voice that he didn't want the conversation to continue so they walked in silence until she came up with a neutral topic of conversation however, his words wouldn't stop spinning around her head.

* * *

They'd been at Peyton's for the last two hours when suddenly Lucas noticed Peyton glancing at the ticking hands of the clock every few minutes. He guessed that her father would be home soon and he couldn't be here when that happened, if he was then everything would come out and Peyton might not want to see him ever again. He knew her well enough noe to know what it would mean to her if she found out and he didn't think he could bear her hating him in the way that her father did or even the way he hated himself sometimes.

"I think I should go," he whispered, there was no need to say the painful words any louder as they were sat so close that one small movement would give them both a wave of emotions that they weren't ready to deal with yet. Anyway saying these words louder would only make them seem more real and he didn't want to cope with the haeshness of reality right now.

"Yeah, my dad will be home soon." Her voice gave away any emotion that she was trying to hide and she wished that she could have controlled it better so Lucas wouldn't know just how much it hurt her to be pulled away from him. Although a part of her already knew that Lucas could sense her feelings without her speaking a word.

"Hey," he lifted her chin so that he could connect their eyes, "we'll still see each other and when your dad leaves again everything will be back to normal."

"I don't want normal," she whispered torn between wanting to tell him how she felt about the situation and wanting to just let it go.

At his confused glance she felt the need to continue, "I want us to be able to go places and not have people looking down on us or I want us to at least spend time together in school seeing as we won't be able to be around each other out of school."

"Peyton-" he tried to stop her, afraid that if she persisted in telling him these things then he may just have to tell her the truth. She had started now and she wouldn't stop.

"I hate it when people look at us like we're doing something wrong just by talking to each other and I have no idea why, we haven't done anything." She spoke with such passion and innocence that he began to resent himself for letting this go on as long as it had when he knew that it would only end in heartbreak.

He had no words to respond to her as anything he could say would end their friendship and he wasn't ready for that yet, he didn't want to stay away from her even with all of the warnings from Haley and he knew that if his mum found out then he'd be told that this was the exact reason that they'd moved away from Tree Hill.

He stood up and in the corner of his eye he could see a few raindrops against the window, it had started raining just as everyone had expected it to. Peyton appeared to be hurt by his actions; maybe she assumed that he was just going to leave without saying anything, he didn't want her to think that he didn't care because of course he did, she was perfect.

He held his hand out towards her and she took it hesitantly before he pulled her towards him, maybe too close as he could feel her breathing against him, she looked into his eyes momentarily before obviously deciding against the action. He saw her eyes move towards the window and determined that she must have seen the rain as well but she still hadn't moved and if he was honest with himself, he didn't want her to.

He used his hand to softly bring her head back to face his and now she had no choice but to allow their eyes to connect. He swallowed hard as his eyes travelled down her face from her green eyes which sparkled with emotion to her full lips, his eyes lingered there for a moment and the consequences of what he was about to do flickered across his mind.

She took immediate notice of his hesitance and slipped her fingers into his and squeezed his hand gently in what she hoped he would interpret as encouragement and not as a sign that she wanted him to stop whatever he was about to do.

"Don't think about it," she whispered and he could feel her breath against his lips, it only made him want her more.

"Lucas..." she whispered once more and this time he couldn't hold back.

He leaned forward and closed the short distance between them and their lips met in the same instant that a roll of thunder sounded outside, he thought that she'd jump away in fear but she leaned into him and kissed him back, she couldn't stop now.

The kiss was soft but both Lucas could feel an intensity in the way Peyton's lips moved with his and an urgency hidden behind their tentative movements. The kiss was magnetic; Peyton could almost feel her being pulled closer. It was everything a first kiss should be, if Peyton was Brooke or one of the other cheerleaders then she might even say that there were fireworks. Peyton herself had never really believed in true love or soul mates but with the way that Lucas was making her feel, not only with the magical kiss, but with every smile, touch and gaze she was beginning to believe in something that she hadn't since she was a little girl.

Even behind their closed eyelids they could see a flash of lightning and it was as though the electricity it held was transferred to them and the kiss suddenly increased in intensity with their mouths moving against each other in an almost desperate manner, suddenly Lucas felt Peyton move away.

He looked at her with confusion before arriving at the conclusion that she didn't want this, he became even more confused when a voice sounded from behind him saying Peyton's name in a tone that represented the anger that they were feeling in that moment.

* * *

"Leave."

The words were echoed around them, snapping thrm back to reality, and whilst both wanted to ignore them completely they felt too shocked to do anything else other than follow their orders. Peyton knew she'd been caught doing something that she shouldn't but if nobody would tell her why this was supposedly wrong then why shouldn't she do it?

"Peyt," Lucas began talking to her but she cut him off with a painful glance which told him that he should leave and that she needed to do this by herself.

"Goodbye, Lucas," she whispered even though she wanted to say so much more that she couldn't right now, she didn't want to leave things like this for another three weeks.

As Lucas left the room Peyton closed her eyes and slowly sat down, not wanting to look the intruder in the eye.

"I thought that you only talked to him in English?"

"Brooke," she sighed softly, "I didn't know how to tell you."

"Tell me what?" she asked with both anger and overwhelmingly more concern. "Are you two together?"

Peyton looked away from her for a minute while she considered the question, she supposed that the answer was no, one kiss didn't mean that they were together but it was more than just a kiss to her and she was certain that it meant the same to him.

"No," she conceded.

"So that was...?" Brooke asked with her eyebrows raised.

Peyton shrugged and she felt like she was being punished by her dad.

"God, Peyton, you have no idea what you're getting into." Brooke had tried as hard as possible to not shout but this time she just couldn't help it.

"You're right I don't because nobody will tell me!" she screamed back with all of the anger and irritation that had built up in the last two months coming out in one short sentence.

"It's not my place, Peyton," Brooke said in a calmer, softer tone.

"Please Brooke, I just don't understand," she begged, fed up of having everyone else know this secret that they refused to share with her.

"His family, Peyton," Brooke sighed with slight regret of even giving her that much information, "you don't want to get involved with his family, they're bad news."

"Brooke, I already know about Dan and Nathan, Lucas was completely honest with me," she said with a small amount of pride.

"I wasn't talking about Dan, Peyt," Brooke said with a painful expression on her face, she took Peyton's hands. "Maybe sometime you should ask him about his Uncle Keith and then see how honest he is with you."

With that Brooke left and Peyton was left alone with only her tears for company, the rain still beating down on her window.

* * *

**There are a few reasons that this chapter took me so long to write but I won't bore you with them except the fact that I hate writing kissing scenes, I just feel so awkward writing about other people kissing. Is that weird? I don't know but that's one of the reasons this took so long and why I'm not really sure whether I like this chapter or not.**


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